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Scalped Scores Trifecta

ICTMN Staff

12/30/10

Scalped, a dark crime series set on a Pine Ridge-like Indian Reservation, is widely considered one of the best comic book series being published today. But for Jerome Maida, a comics writer who as "Comics Guy" critiques graphic storytelling for the Philadelphia Daily News, there's no "one of" about it -- Scalped is flat-out the best. Maida has named Scalped the Best Comic Series of the Year for the third year in a row, and has also picked series collaborators Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera as Writer and Artist of the Year, respectively. "Scalped is one of the best comic series ever printed," Maida concludes, "and for yet another year, it's the best that the comics industry has to offer."

Though few would argue that Scalped is not edgy and gripping, not everyone is pleased with its portrayal of Native Americans and reservation life. Aaron and Guera are not Native Americans, which can be a factor in the criticism. Rob Schmidt of Blue Corn Comics has never been a fan. He writes that Aaron's world is an "invented, imaginary idea of how hellish Indian life is. It's an exaggerated version of the worst Indian reservations in America and a complete fabrication of Indian life in general." Schmidt's favorite analogy is that "Scalped is to Indians as The Sopranos is to Italians."